How To Add Beautiful Link Previews In Your Posts
Substack does this better than any platform I've used.
For all the frustrating aspects about Substack, there’s one thing they have always done well — post preview links. This may be rudimentary for some but I’ve found that not everyone is aware of this feature.
Preview links are copy/pasted links to published Substack posts, whether it be your own or someone else’s.
Let’s start with your own post links.
It’s a fantastic idea to include links to at least one of your own archived posts in a new post. Doing so provides a super low-effort way to drive traffic to older posts, especially if it relates to the one you’re currently writing.
Most people know this. BUT…did you also know there are three different display sizes for pasted links? You don’t have to leave it as the gigantic (sometimes obnoxiously large) default preview.
Here’s how to change the preview size for YOUR OWN post links:
Copy the link of whichever post you wish to display. Then paste it into the body of your new post. By default, it pastes in the largest size available but you can alter the display size by clicking on the “hamburger” icon (the three lines to the right of the post preview).
If you’re don’t see the “hamburger,” hover your mouse over the image and it will appear. Then you can either select small or medium display.
Here’s how the medium and small previews display:
MEDIUM (note: you’ll only notice the Medium size difference on desktop, not mobile or in email)
SMALL
Using these post previews works brilliantly for summary pages. See how Marty Neumeier uses a summary page for his discussion posts here. Super neat and tidy.
Previews for other people’s posts show up differently.
If you’re sharing a link to someone else’s post, it will display differently because it’s not part of your own publication. However, it still shows much nicer than just a text link.
As an example, I’ve pasted a link to a post by Cerina Triglavcanin below:
Lastly, let’s paste a YouTube link…
Because Substack does a beautiful job of displaying YouTube video content! So, if you have a video that supports your next post, by all means, paste the link! Your readers can seamlessly watch your video content right from your post.
There you have it! Now, go forth and PASTE SUBSTACK LINKS everywhere!! 😁 Make those people read your old posts and watch your YouTube clips!